8/4: I just didn't care for it. It rubbed me the wrong way, and the author was never able to engender sympathy in me. It reminded me a bit of Eat Pray Love, but something about A Trail of Crumbs was worse.( )

Trail of Crumbs was a very relatable story to me, and I'm sure many others who have ever felt out of place in their own skin. The author, Kim Sunee, was abandoned by her mother at the age of 3 in South Korea and was found wandering a park with a fistfull of crumbs. She was placed in an orphanage and adopted shortly after by a family from New Orleans where she spent growing up until going to Florida in high school. She then transfers to a program in Nice, France, and spends the next decade traveling and living in Europe. Thus began her constant search for her place in the world. Despite finding love and being offered the many opportunities that only the most wealthy among the world could imagine, Kim struggles with feeling controlled by her boyfriend [who is indeed extremely controlling], as well as allowing herself to feel at ease in admitting what she needs and wants out of her life. She finds a close group of friends who allow her to be more herself, who look after her, who encourage her to follow her heart. Her adoptive parents don't play a strong role in her life; her mother seems to always discourage Kim and control her from afar; Kim grew up closest with her grandparents, watching her grandfather cooking, which spurs on her own love of food and cooking. I was happy to see many of the recipes that were talked about included in the book so that I might try them out myself one day! The story closes on a note that is full of possibility, and I look forward to reading the continuation. ( )

I never felt much sympathy for this woman. She leaves her rich older man because he is to controlling and to find herself and ends up becoming an editor of a highbrow home magazine that most southern women respect. She does all this with no training or qualifications other than her looks. Spends most of her time after her rich older man screwing around with losers and blames it all on the fact that she was adopted. Yeah right. Poor, poor pitiful me! Hard to feel much for a person in her plight. This book was recommended by Don Noble on his Alabama book review program and touted as a well written autobiography of a famous Alabamaian. It wasn't and she isn't. I am not sure why I finished this book. Perhaps because I thought there might be something more around the corner. There wasn't. ( )

I didn't love this as much as I thought I would, but it was very highly recommended and doubtless would have been difficult to live up to. Good read though, and I will definately watch for more of her stuff. Stopped reading when I read the recipe for couscous salad and made it immediately, very tasty! ( )

Wikipedia in English

Already hailed as "brave, emotional, and gorgeously written" by Frances Mayes and "like a piece of dark chocolate--bittersweet, satisfying, and finished all too soon" by Laura Fraser, author of An Italian Affair, this is a unique memoir about the search for identity through love, hunger, and food.

Jim Harrison says, "TRAIL OF CRUMBS reminds me of what heavily costumed and concealed waifs we all are. Kim Sunée tells us so much about the French that I never learned in 25 trips to Paris, but mostly about the terrors and pleasure of that infinite octopus, love. A fine book."

When Kim Sunée was three years old, her mother took her to a marketplace, deposited her on a bench with a fistful of food, and promised she'd be right back. Three days later a policeman took the little girl, clutching what was now only a fistful of crumbs, to a police station and told her that she'd been abandoned by her mother.

Fast-forward almost 20 years and Kim's life is unrecognizable. Adopted by a young New Orleans couple, she spends her youth as one of only two Asian children in her entire community. At the age of 21, she becomes involved with a famous French businessman and suddenly finds herself living in France, mistress over his houses in Provence and Paris, and stepmother to his eight year-old daughter.

Kim takes readers on a lyrical journey from Korea to New Orleans to Paris and Provence, along the way serving forth her favorite recipes. A love story at heart, this memoir is about the search for identity and a book that will appeal to anyone who is passionate about love, food, travel, and the ultimate search for self.

Traces the South Korean author's personal quest for identity and belonging after being abandoned at the age of three and subsequently adopted by a New Orleans couple in a non-Asian community."Kim Sunee was three years old when her mother took her to a crowded marketplace and left her on a bench with only a fistful of food. Three terrifying days and nights later a policeman discovered Kim, who was now clutching what was only a handful of crumbs." "Nearly twenty years later, Kim's life is unrecognizable. Adopted by a family in New Orleans, she grows up as one of only two Asian children in her community. At the age of twenty-two, she becomes involved with a famous French businessman, and finds herself living in France, mistress over his houses in Provence and Paris, and stepmother to his eight-year-old daughter." "But despite this glamorous lifestyle, Kim never really feels at home. Trail of Crumbs follows Kim as she cooks her way into many makeshift homes and discovers that familiar flavors are the antidote to a lifetime of wandering. Ultimately, it is in food and cooking that Kim finds solace and a sense of place." "Sensuous, intense, and intimate, this powerful memoir will appeal to anyone who is passionate about love, food, travel, or the ultimate search for self."--BOOK JACKET.… (more)